According to Leonard, there are a wide variety of clients she serves around the suburbs of Chicago.

Leonard said, “We have been a team since 2015 and I’ve been licensed since 2006. Our team works with both sellers and buyers. We do new construction; resale; bank owned properties from a buyer side; we do a lot of first time buyers and offer good guidance for that process; a lot of move-up buyers, and it seems people who are downsizing and/or moving out of the state has been the common trend over the past year – going to warmer climates. We cover a broad spectrum of buyers, and Christie manages communications once a client comes on board. She kind of takes over and manages our staff to make sure that they are kept in the loop for every part of the process throughout the transaction.”

When host Mark Imperial asked about the health of real estate in the areas she serves, Leonard answered, “We go from Crystal Lake to Mount Prospect; as far south as Naperville; and as far west as Genoa – we cover a pretty broad area. Christie and I are sisters and we both grew up in Hampshire, so we grew up kind of out west. Then, slowly the business moved a little bit further East so we really cover a pretty broad area… It’s really healthy. We’ve found that homes aren’t sitting on the market as long as they were this time two years ago. So there have been a good amount of buyers that are filtering into the market. I think the speculation of the interest rate increase in 2018 has helped a lot as well. We just urge people to continue with their research and move forward with that process because time eventually will start costing them money if the interest rates do go up… Things have been really healthy. Our average market time in this past year was under two months, and we did about 420 closings last year, so we got a pretty good sampling of the market in different areas just to get a good feel. We’ll hopefully see some more inventory come on when the weather starts to warm up because right now we’re pretty light on listings. There are more buyers, I would say, out there than there are sellers right now so it’s a good time to get the house on the market.”

During the Interview Christie Nyquist shared the part of the process she helps sellers through once they list their homes, explaining, “(I handle) pretty much everything behind the scenes. So, if you take away the negotiating and going into the actual appointment (that’s all Sarah)… once they’re ready to sign the contract, then it goes to the office. We’ve got seven full time staff, and I oversee all of them… we offer an interior designer, so first is the coordinating with the seller and with the designer, and getting in to make sure that their home is staged correctly – that’s going to help them out in the best way; and then with the photographer; Everything with RE/MAX, with paperwork; and then, once they’re actually listed, getting (their home listing) into the MLS; and then, keeping in touch with everybody that shows their home; getting feedback; and just building a good personal relationship with all the clients.”

Sarah Leonard and Christie Nyquist are Real Estate Professionals with RE/MAX Suburban. Leonard is ranked in the Top 3 RE/MAX Realtor in Illinois for the past 2 years, having closed over 400 Homes in the Past 12 Months. Featured on the cover of the nationwide edition of Top Agent magazine, Featured Cover Story in Chicago Agent Magazine, Inducted into the RE/MAX Hall of Fame, Recipient of Chairman’s Club, Executive Club, 100% Club, Five Star Agent Award through Chicago Magazine, and featured in the February 2016 Professional Women in Real Estate edition in the Daily Herald.

The interview concluded with Leonard saying “So I think we were able to realize, because we’re sisters and best friends, that it’s so much fun, and that we are so blessed that we get to work together every day. But then in a business environment, we were able to realize that her strong suits were my weak points, and vice-versa. So we really complement each other so well. Once we were able to realize that, and put the wheels in motion, the business just kind of followed. When she came on board, I did an extra 18 transactions in a two-month period because she was keeping things organized for me, so my brain was cleared out where I can focus on the good stuff. For her, it was a good start because she enjoyed that aspect. And I was like ‘Oh, get me out of this stuff!’ It was what she enjoyed. So we really have found a team now, where people come into work and enjoy what they’re doing. It really is like a second family for people. They come in, they take pride in what they do, and enjoy what they do. I could never sit behind a desk all day, you know, and bless her heart, but she could never probably be on the road doing what I do. So we really are able to keep people with personality doing what they excel in, and place them within the company. And you know, it’s been a really, really, fun ride getting here. We all enjoy what we do on day-to-day basis and we all feel pretty lucky.”